Thinking of organising an event? Wake up and smell the coffee!

Organising a conference, workshop, training course or large meeting takes time and effort.  In the run-up to such events the focus of planners/organisers can become fixed on the schedule and agenda, and on the time slots allotted to each activity.  Questions like “will it all work?”, “what happens if we overrun?” and “will the attendees like the format?” are top of mind and likely to remain so until after the event.

In his book Open Space Technology – A User’s Guide, Harrison Owen relays his experience of organising an international conference for 250 people.  The event took him a full year of labour and though it was agreed by one and all that the event had been outstanding, it was also concluded that “the truly useful part had been the coffee breaks”!

We know that people like to talk and communicate and when so doing are creating or building relationships and sharing knowledge and experiences.  Many of us will have witnessed the challenge of bringing a coffee break ‘to order’ when an organiser/facilitator asks attendees at an event to return to the ‘task’ or their seats to listen to the next speaker.  As the noise levels die down and conversations shudder to a halt, the energy that was in the room can appear to evaporate.

In his book, Harrison Owen questions whether it is possible to combine the level “of synergy and excitement present in a good coffee break” with the “substantive activity and results characteristic of a good meeting”; and answers this question by describing an easily-repeatable method/strategy for organising events/meetings – an approach he calls Open Space.

So the next time you are about to organise an event/meeting, make yourself a coffee, remember Harrison Owen’s experience, and carefully consider the approach you will use.

Photo ‘coffee beans’ from Amanda28192′s Photostream on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanda28192/

That old KM chestnut – the DIKW model

A number of recent posts in the blog ‘Above and Beyond KM – a discussion of knowledge management that goes above and beyond technology’, captured the notes taken at several of the sessions at the recent KMWorld Conference 2012.

One of the posts that caught my eye was ‘the DIKW pyramid must die!’ http://aboveandbeyondkm.com/2012/10/the-dikw-pyramid-must-die-kmworld.html.

Comments about the use and abuse of the DIKW model are frequent visitors to blog posts, tweets and group discussions on LinkedIn.  One of the best (in my opinion) thought pieces about the DIKW or Hierarchy to Wisdom Model I’ve come across in recent years was posted by Patrick Lambe on http://www.greenchameleon.com/gc/blog_detail/from_data_with_love/.  In the post Patrick gives some of the ‘for’ and the ‘against’ viewpoints and neatly weaves together a number of KM related strands.

I often use the model, or versions of it, in my KM consultancy work and in workshops/training courses.  I use to it to tell two contrasting stories.  Story 1 explains the model, its background, and why those that like it, use it.  Story 2 turns the model (literally) on its head and tells the story about why the model is misleading and why those that don’t like it, don’t like it.  Used in these ways the model is a very useful KM workshop/facilitation/consultancy approach to generate discussion, develop a shared understanding (about KM related language) and helps provide the data, information and knowledge context for the organisation concerned.

Do you use the model, and if so, how?

Having fun?

Ever used or established ground rules to help create the right environment and mindset for those attending your workshop or team event? 

Some of the ground rules I’ve used over the years are listed in my blog post Ground Rules for Workshops.  I was reminded of the final of these rules ‘adhere to timings and have fun!’ whilst reading through the Summer 2012 edition of Professional Manager http://professionalmanager.co.uk/ – an issue “themed on fun”. 

I often make the point with clients and in the introduction to workshops and team events that having fun helps us to learn and can make the learning experience all the more memorable/enjoyable.  The reason I include ‘have fun’ in a ground rule which includes ‘adhere to timings’ is to evidence that whilst there is a structure/process that surrounds the workshop or team event, and whilst the ‘for what purpose question’ (i.e. why are we here, what do we want to do/achieve?) must not be forgotten; that this will be enabled/facilitated through an element of fun and enjoyment. 

How important is the ‘fun’ aspect to your work?

Learning – the only sustainable competitive advantage?

When facilitating workshops, and running training courses in Knowledge Management, I often ask delegates the question “what did you/we learn?” 

Sometimes the question is met with a stony silence.  The reasons for this are many and varied and include:

• A reluctance to ‘go first’ in an open environment
• Concern that an outward expression of learning equates to an admission of not knowing
• A learning style or preference that requires time to reflect before responding. 

Another reason, and perhaps the key one, is that delegates are often not used to this question being asked in their team, function or organisation – and to be asked the question comes as a bit of a surprise. 

Many organisations aspire to be, or state that they are, learning organisations.  In such organisations I would expect the question “what did you/we learn?” to be common place and part of the culture.  Ensuring that the vision or stated objective of being a learning organisation is more than just words in a strategy document is a key challenge for organisations – and one that starts with a clear and shared understanding of what it means, and the value of being one. 

This theme is taken up in a video ‘the importance of learning in organisations’ posted (in 2008) on YouTube by Harvard Business School.  The video starts with a formal definition.  How would you define a learning organisation and, having watched the video, what did you learn?   

What’s the job code for thinking?

Many of the attendees I’ve spoken to at workshops or training events I’ve run, and the majority of clients I’ve worked with implementing and embedding Knowledge Management, have at some stage in the conversation mentioned how busy they and their organisations are.  Some even add “I’m so busy I don’t have time to think”. 

I guess we can all relate to this statement and at some stage in our working lives (or maybe even weekly for some?) can recall at time when:

• There are so many things to do on our to do list but not enough time to do them in
• We’ve got far too many emails and urgent messages clogging up our in-boxes
• The level of complexity of our number one task makes it appear to be too difficult to even know where to start (so we don’t or we dither)
• Our organisation places more emphasis on ‘doing’ and ‘action’ than on ‘learning before doing’ and ‘reflection’.

And yet thinking, as Edward de Bono reminds us: “is the ultimate human resource – yet we can never be satisfied with our most important skill, and no matter how good we become, we should always want to be better”. 

As employees, one way we can remind ourselves of the importance of thinking, and of the need to create thinking time in our busy work schedules, is to ensure that we always ‘learn before doing’ by asking ourselves: “has this been done before?”; “who are the experts?”; “do I have access to the knowledge I need to perform this task?”; “are there any case studies/lessons learnt I should be reading up on?”; “where is the good practice I can adopt?”   

As managers and leaders in our organisations we should also be asking our colleagues “what have you learnt?”; “what was the thought process that got you to this decision?”; how have you applied the knowledge of others in helping you achieve this task?” – more often than the usual ‘management’ questions like “what are you working on?”; “will you deliver on time?”;  “can you give me a progress up-date?” 

Encouraging ourselves and others to use our ultimate human resource – thinking, is a vital ingredient in creating and sustaining a learning organisation.  After all, you never know where the next great idea might come from – and it certainly won’t happen without time spent thinking (inside or outside the box).

Photograph from id-iom’s Photstream on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/id-iom/

What’s your personal brand image – and is it the one you want?

When training and coaching in internal consultancy skills and stakeholder engagement, I often spend some time getting attendees to think about their ‘personal brand’.  

As consumers, we are all too well aware of the power of brands – just think about the things you buy and the way in which the brand name/image of the product or service relates to you and your lifestyle.  Product and service brands are all around us – you cannot avoid them – and the same is true of personal brands. 

Being human is about making judgements and when we meet someone for the first time we subconsciously make a judgement about their ‘personal brand’ i.e. we form an instant impression about the individual.  When we get to know someone or work with them on a regular basis any initial impression is enriched with other factors which impact our view of the ‘personal brand’ of the individual concerned e.g. do they deliver on time?  Can we trust them?  Are they a good team player?  Are they risk averse?  Do they treat their knowledge as power? 

Even things like email auto replies can impact your personal brand – http://ianwooler.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/email-auto-replies-%e2%80%93-is-yours-helpful-or-unhelpful/ 

All these factors and our initial impression inform our picture of the ‘brand image’ of the individual concerned.  Sometimes this image will be a positive one, but sometimes less so – and changing the image and perceptions about your personal brand can be quite difficult; particularly when these things and perceptions are not always discussed with you.

An article in this week’s Marketer http://www.themarketer.co.uk/ “learn how to create content that spreads like wildfire with our tips and tricks from online marketing experts” discusses ten tips for infectious viral content. 

You we see parallels in the ten tips with my thoughts above on personal brand – i.e. you can influence your personal brand by being “brave”; by striking “the right tone”; and by “seeding” and “personalising” the engagement you have with your stakeholders. 

If you’re unsure what your personal brand is – then ask a close friend/work colleague; and take it from there.

Does your team have a common purpose or goal?

Almost a year ago to the day I made a blog post about the characteristics of effective teams.  In the post I listed 7 characteristics, the first of which was: 

1. Common purpose – an effective team has a clearly identifiable common purpose or goal.  All parties are aware of, and committed to, the goal or purpose. 

I was reminded of the importance of this particular characteristic over the Christmas/New Year Period when taking a short flight and when watching sport.  The team concerned with the flight was an airline flight-deck and cabin crew.  They made it clear to all concerned that “your safety is our number one priority”.  In common with other teams, each member of the crew had other tasks/objectives to complete (some undertaken individually, some with others) but at all times their explicit common purpose was safety.  The team concerned with sport comprised football players and coaching staff.  They made it clear to all concerned (in pre, during and post match communications) that “we are all about winning”.  In common with the airline flight-deck and cabin crew team, each footballer and member of the coaching staff had other specific roles and responsibilities, but as a team were united (no pun intended) by a common purpose; that of winning. 

As we know, team membership in the examples given above can and does vary – and that this is often on a week to week basis.  But as new members join and existing members leave, the common purpose (and focus) remains unchanged. 

Now compare and contrast these examples with that of your own work team – be it a team of Librarians; Knowledge Managers; Consultants; Information Specialists etc.  When each team member is asked, individually, “what is the common purpose of the team”; how would they respond?  Would it be in a clear and consistent way e.g. the equivalent of “your safety is our number one priority”, or would there be a variety of responses – each with a slightly different emphasis or interpretation on the team’s goal or common purpose? 

There’s only one way to find out – and that is to ask the question.  From my experience there are likely to be three themes to the responses; each requiring a different approach: 

Broad agreement and consistency – in which case this is good news and is fit for purpose; provided that the team’s common purpose is linked and aligned with the wider objectives of the organisation and that the members of the team also have their personal goals and objectives aligned with both. 

Some agreement and evidence of inconsistency – in which case urgent work is required, perhaps in the shape of a team event/workshop, to explore the responses and to work toward shared understanding and articulation of the common purpose. 

Little or no agreement – in which case either very urgent ‘team building’ work is required, or, the responses are evidence of the fact that the individuals concerned are not a team (as described in the examples earlier); nor do they need to be a team.  They might just be a collection of individuals working for the same person, or function, or group.  Applying or forcing team building activities or getting individuals to sign up to a common purpose is likely to be counter productive.

Photograph from ekkebus’ Photostream on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkebus/with/5020840511/

Do you have the skill-set to work from home?

In a recent session I ran for TFPL and Henley Business School I talked about what it means to be a multi-skilled Knowledge, Library or Information Manager Jack of all; master of none?  In my presentation and during the round-table discussions that followed, the focus was on the range of core skills associated with specific functions/job types, and on the wide range of ‘internal consultancy’ skills needed to support and enrich these roles.

A number of the ‘internal consultancy’ skills we discussed become particularly important when working from home or when working remotely from an office base for long periods of time.  And for those who work remotely on a permanent basis, these skills take on even greater importance and significance. 

So what skills are we talking about?  Well, according to BT’s Remote Manager’s Toolkit http://www.insight.bt.com/Topics/Remote-working/ they include Time Management; Self-Organisation; Self-Motivation; Communication; and Problem Solving and Decision Making Skills. 

Readers interested in knowing more about Time Management skills may wish to read my blog post http://ianwooler.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/what%e2%80%99s-the-worst-thing-you%e2%80%99ll-do-today/ and learn how to ‘eat that frog’! 

Underpinning the above and other skills relevant to remote working is the need for remote workers to be very good at Personal Information and Knowledge Management (PIKM) Three smart PIKM actions.  Good PIKM can ease the pressure caused by the feeling of having too many tasks to complete in too little time, and can provide remote workers with a level of self-organisation enabled through better use of pull and push technologies.  Being better at Time Management and Self-Organisation can make remote workers feel even more motivated and can free up time and thinking space to improve Communication Skills, Solve Problems and make Effective Decisions.

Happy Birthday Blog! – A summary of the top 5 posts over the last 12 months

I’ve been blogging for a year and the following is a summary of the top 5 posts (the most viewed/commented on/linked to) over that period. 

We all know that value and benefit is gained at the point of use, not at the point of provision, so only you know what value and benefit the following posts have provided – all I know is that they are the most popular. 

1. Knowledge Management Groups on Linkedin – A quick review of some of the Knowledge Management Groups (their type, membership and purpose) on Linkedin. 
2. 7 Characteristics of effective teams – 7 Characteristics against which to baseline and assess the effectiveness of teams. 
3. How to co-facilitate workshops and training events – The benefits, things to consider and top tips for co-facilitating workshops and training events. 
4. Enablers and Barriers – Force-field Analysis – The key steps to follow when using Force-field Analysis to help implement a solution to a problem and achieve the desired change. 
5. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? – How to use the 5 Whys questioning technique to drill down to the problem, rather than accept action around a symptom. 

Workshop conversations going ‘off-piste’? Then use a parking lot

Workshops are often used by teams and organisations to generate ideas for new products and services; identify improved ways of working; re-design processes; and to encourage sharing of skills, knowledge and experience to support internal and external collaboration. 

In creating a stimulating and interesting workshop environment to enable/support idea generation, facilitators/organisers will be only too aware that some of the conversations and exercises may go ‘off-piste’

 

– that is to say that elements of conversations, whilst very interesting and stimulating, are likely to touch on subjects, issues, challenges and opportunities not directly related to the topic being discussed, and therefore perhaps best discussed at another place or time.        

One way for facilitators/organisers of workshops to deal with this is to create a ‘parking lot’ flipchart (visible to all) at the start of the event.  The ‘parking lot’ should be introduced to attendees as a way of capturing and recording things not directly related to the workshop objectives, but which are important to note and action elsewhere.  

Attendees or the facilitator can then update the ‘parking lot’ during the workshop and re-visit the ‘parking lot’ at the end of the workshop to see what has been noted and to agree next steps/actions as required. 

Use of a ‘parking lot’ (you may have a better/more appropriate name for this) helps give a voice to each workshop attendee.  In capturing and recording the points made, the ‘owner’ feels recognised and their point valued – but once made, conversations can then be easily and quickly brought back to focus on the task in hand. 

Information about steps to measure the success and impact of a workshop can be found via http://ianwooler.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/5-steps-to-measure-the-success-and-impact-of-a-workshop/

Photo from Per Edin’s Photostream on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/peredin/with/2400793119/